


Ava

by spoiledcatmilk



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Mirror Universe, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29098947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoiledcatmilk/pseuds/spoiledcatmilk
Summary: "Ava Sofia Markson would not be sleeping tonight. She sat up in bed on top of the covers in her darkened room. She waited for the light that spilled into her room underneath her door to be snuffed out, and then she waited some more...Ava Katerina Markson hoped she would be back in bed sleeping again soon. She was cold in the thin dress she was wearing. She did not understand why these costumes couldn’t be warmer. It was a cool winter night, and the breeze was stiff..."





	Ava

Ava Sofia Markson would not be sleeping tonight. She sat up in bed on top of the covers in her darkened room. She waited for the light that spilled into her room underneath her door to be snuffed out, and then she waited some more.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the near darkness and she was confident her parents had gone to bed she began to move. Already dressed in the ceremonial dress all she needed were her coat and boots in the main room.

She pushed the door open and moved by memory down the hallway, down the stairs and into the entryway. She donned her coat and boots and then went through the darkened kitchen and through the back door.

She stepped into the outside world. The moon was bright and full. The stars were bright as well, the Milky Way a creamy trail of light across the sky. Twinkles of red, orange, and blue scattered across it. The wind was harsh and blew the loose powdery snow that had fallen throughout the day. Ava’s legs would soon be cold in the open skirt of her dress.

She stepped down the shoveled walk towards the back shed. She stepped into the drifting snow as she moved around the shed. She ventured into the forest of towering pine trees that surrounded the house.

She moved by near muscle memory through the moonlight forest. The wind harsh on her the bare skin of her face and hands, her legs not faring well either. She stumbled through drifts and grabbed at the trees for support as she tripped on hidden undergrowth.

She heard the whispers quiet when she drew close to her destination. The women of the coven stood loosely around the small unfrozen pool. The moon danced on the surface of the pond as it was rippled by the breeze.

“Are we doing this?” Ava’s voice sounded loud in the hushed forest, her heart hard in her throat.

The other women took off their overcoats and formed a circle around the pool with a gap for Ava. Ava threw off her coat and stepped out of her boots. The cold was shocking and numbing. Her feet slipped on the hard ground and snow melting on her skin. She focused on maintaining her balance as she walked down towards the pond.

She reached the shore. She turned around the women clasped hands in a circle around Ave and the pond.

They women audibly breathed in and Ava let herself fall back. Her stomach flipped and she resisted the urge to flinch as she free fell. She struck the water with a thunderclap of freezing sensation and suddenly she was surrounded by a deep cold. 

She watched her pale hair float above her and the faces of the woman as they chanted. She closed her eyes.

Ava Katerina Markson hoped she would be back in bed sleeping again soon. She was cold in the thin dress she was wearing. She did not understand why these costumes couldn’t be warmer. It was a cool winter night, and the breeze was stiff.

Her body was starting to feel the strain of balancing on the circular hoverboard while other people were on it. The metal circle hummed quietly as it floated above the small pond.

“Are we doing this?” She asked, quieting the chatter.

The women of the coven reached out to clasp hands, everyone adjusted their footing and Ava lost her balance. Her feet slipped forward, and her body pitched back and she fell off of the hoverboard and into open air. 

She free fell, her stomach twisting, her body stiffening. She hit the water with a splash. Immediately she was enveloped by the cold. 

She watched as the hoverboard overturned and tossed the other women into the water above her.

She was so cold, she closed her eyes.

Ava Sofia Markson broke the surface of the water. She found herself struggling for air. Her mind clearing as oxygen began to flow through her again. She swam in the freezing water, skirts swirling slowly around her legs and dragging her down.

She kicked hard and traveled in one direction until the tips of her bare feet began to touch the silty floor of the pond. She climbed out of the water and was suddenly aware of how cold she was. 

She was shivering violently as she struggled to stand on numb feet. She looked around. The other women had also climbed out of the pond and were trying to warm themselves up. They were pulling on coats over soaked clothes and a few were looking at Ava in a concerned way.

Ava looked around for something, anything to cover up with. She had brought her coat with her, it was somewhere up the hill. 

She looked around. Something about the forest was wrong. She could not figure out which direction she had come from. She looked at the sky. It was grey, the moon too dim and too few stars. Still it was bright, ambient light coming from different points on the horizon. 

She found a piece of clothing laying in the snow near the shore of the pond. It was a long jacket made with a strange slick material that was thin but insulating. She pulled it over her soaked dress.

She began walking up the slope towards the glowing light in the distance. Her feet were starting to feel dangerously cold as she crested the slope.

A figure appeared between the trees. The man carried a strange one directional torch that shone light bright like the moon. He spotted her, the light dancing across her and shining in her eyes for a few seconds.

“Ava,” he called out, his voice familiar.

“Ava!” 

Again when she doesn’t answer. She kept walking towards him and he hurried through the snow to her. They got close an even in the low light his face is unmistakably familiar. 

A blended picture of her mother and father. A larger version of her mother’s nose, her father’s lips, her mother’s hair yellow blond, and her father’s pale eyes. Their parents. Her brother.

“Why are you sopping wet and barefoot? What happened?”

He reached out and wrapped his arms around her. He picked her up like a princess, so her feet out of the snow. She leaned into his embrace, feeling his warmth. He turned and carried her towards the light of a distance rectangle of a house. He let her sit in silence as she thought.

Ava Katerina Markson was pulled from the water. She heaved a deep breath as the women of the coven drug her onto the snow-covered ground. They ripped off her wet dress and wrapped her in a dry blanket. Shoes were put on her feet.

Ava was reeling with the slow realization that she had nearly drowned. Her lungs hurt from the water she inhaled. There was a blackness between slipping off the hoverboard and when she was pulled out of the water that terrified her.

She sat up and looked around at the many pinched, frowning, and scrunched faces around her, recognizing none of them. The shadows were sharp and the moon was bright and when she looked up the stars were breathtakingly bright. 

The forest was off, the trees larger and spaced further apart.

“Come on Ava, let’s get you back home and warmed up why don’t we,” One woman with long black hair in a thick braid over her shoulder said.

Two of the women helped Ava to her feet and turned her around. She was directed up the hill, past a discarded piece of clothing and towards a small homestead, lit up and visible through the trees.

Figures emerged from the house and began to approach the group of women. The others stopped suddenly, and Ava stumbled when she realized they did. The figures drew closer, a man and woman. Ava looked over her shoulder, watching the women scatter back into the forest.

She looked back to the approaching couple. A woman with her lips and wide eyes and a man with her hair color and nose shape. About 30 years older than her. A messed up, aged up mirror of her and her brother. Her parents.

“Ava, what are you doing?” her mother asked.

“Come back to the house now,” her father said. He motioned with the metal lantern he had in his hand. He grabbed her wrist with the other hand, and dragged her back to the house.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So I have no idea how to keep writing this but I enjoyed the idea


End file.
